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The Ballona Creek Bike Path starts at Syd Kronenthal Park in east Culver City and extends about 7 miles to the Coast Bike Path along the beach. This page details its various entrances and gives suggested approaches. Click on their names for street maps. There is some free street parking near most of the entrances, except for Lincoln Blvd (11) and Marina del Rey (12). Here is a map for the entire bikepath; below are maps of individual entrance locations.

Note that the bikepath entrances are locked when there is a possibility of substantial rain. During rainstorms, the creek waters become fast and dangerous; during heavy storms, the water may submerge parts of the bikepath.

BALLONA CREEK BIKEWAY AND LANDSCAPING PROJECTS

When Ballona Creek was channelized starting in the 1930s, the concrete berm was nothing more than a service road for maintenance vehicles. Eventually, it was striped for public use as a bikepath. In recent years, significant bike path improvements have been made and are continuing. These include native landscaping, artist-designed gates, benches, drinking fountains and other amenities in the Del Rey neighborhood from McConnell to Sepulveda and in Culver City around Duquesne. Other positive changes include creekside “rain gardens” around Jackson Avenue and Pearson Street, more native landscaping between Inglewood Avenue and Sawtelle Boulevard, BCR's native landscaping project at Culver City Middle and High Schools, and our shared restoration project near Slauson Avenue led by Friends of Ballona Wetlands with Mar Vista Family Center and BCR. All this is creating a pleasant recreational facility for riders, walkers, joggers and skaters.

With the improvements and increased ridership, the bike path generally is an enjoyable and safe place to exercise, commute, and ride to the coast, school, or other destinations. However, with limited visibility under the freeways and few entrances and exits, it is always a good idea to be alert to your surroundings. Cell phones are a good and quick way to report hazardous debris or conditions, graffiti, pollution, or suspicious behavior.

As you ride, walk, or skate on the Ballona Trail, please use extra caution, especially around the underpasses and ramps where cyclists often ride fast.

In case of emergency, dial 911

Culver City Police Department Non-Emergency Line: 310-837-1221

LAPD Non-Emergency Line: 310-202-4502

Culver City Graffiti Hotline: 310-253-5555

Handicap access information. Most parts of the bikepath are flat and accessible to those with disabilities or in hand-propelled or motorized wheelchairs. Some entrance gates are steep ramps which are not ADA compliant. There are also ramps, some of them steep, where the bikepath crosses under major streets about every half-mile to mile. On steep ramps there is a possibility of cyclists riding fast up or down the ramps, so exercise caution.

The start/end of the bikepath is most easily accessed from Syd Kronenthal Park, 3459 McManus Avenue, Culver City, a few blocks south of Washington Blvd. The bike path entrance is behind the park's ballfield backstop. You'll go down a steep ramp and make a u-turn onto the bike path. Before you do that, check out the colorful mural on the retaining wall behind the backstop. The Ballona Creek bikepath connects here to the Exposition light rail bikepath, which is at street level parallel to the light rail tracks.

Approachable from either Culver or Jefferson Blvd, this well-used entrance is on the downstream (west) side across the creek from Culver City's Transportation Facility. You can't miss BCR's “Rivers of the World” mural on the entrance ramp (unless you entered at Syd Kronenthal Park) or the giant urn sculpture across the creek.

Approachable from either Culver or Jefferson Blvds, this entrance is on the west side next to the Culver City Julian Dixon Library, where you'll see BCR's “Postcards From Ballona” mural on the parking lot retaining wall behind the library as you enter the bike path. There is a second entrance on the east side of Overland Avenue. Limited street parking. The bikepath between Overland Ave. and Sepulveda Blvd (#5) is flat and handicap accessible.

There are bikepath entrances on both sides of Sepulveda Boulevard on the north side of the creek. The east-side entrance is flat all the way to Overland Ave. The west side entrance is flat for just a short distance, then meets a steep ramp.

One entrance is on the west side of the street, where there is some off-street space for parking. Another entrance is on the east side of Centinela Avenue, a short distance down a small side street called Culver Drive. Flat access ramp with benches and a drinking fountain.

There are entrances are on both sides of Lincoln Boulevard but no parking. Lincoln Boulevard is at present not a bike-friendly street, although there are tentative plans to install bike lanes or off-street bike paths which would connect to Ballona Creek.

You can park at Fisherman's Village (a fee lot) to access the Ballona Creek bikepath off of the end of Fiji Way. Fiji Way also provides a connection to a bikepath winding through Marina del Rey out to Washington Blvd. Flat and handicap accessible.

Additional information

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BCR's FALL 2014 Newsletter is now posted! 8 pages of informative in-depth articles and excellent color photos about the creek and watershed. Click here. For back issues, click on "Newsletters" in the left column.

SEE OUR NEW VIDEO!(Instructions are in the center column of our home page)

PHOTO GALLERY OF BIRDS OF BALLONA CREEKInteresting facts and superb photos of birds commonly seen in the creek. To see them, click here.